The Fire Rises
Chapter 1 The young warrior sat just outside his camp, deep in thought. He sighed lightly, thinking about his life. An amber light flickered at the edge of his eyes, and the scent of smoke burned in his nostrils. He flattened his ears and cried, " Fire in the camp!" Screeches and howls filled his ears, but he dared not move. He was strangely calm about it. The fire grew close to his pelt, almost singing his gray and white fur. But he still did not move. The fire engulfed him,and he heard a faint cry. " Specklefrost!" It was his mate, Darkfang. He closed his eyes, bunched his legs, and leaped. The fire singed his hindpaws, but he just ignored it. ''The fur will grow back anyway.'' Darkfang was just inches from him when he landed. " What in the name of StarClan were you doing! You were a sitting duck!" " Nothing, Darkfang, Just nothing." His deep reply echoed through the strange calmness of the forest. "Let's go." Dovetail awoke with a loud cough of disgust. A half-moon had passed since the Midnight Fire, but the MallowClan camp still smelled as if it were still on fire. "Morning, Dovetail." a deep ginger tabby meowed. "Sleep well?" Dovetail nodded, letting out a huge yawn. " Sorta, Redstripe." Her ice-blue eyes caught the teasing look in his eyes. Redstripe raced away with a loud meow of laughter. "Hey! Get back here!" Dovetail jumped up out of her nest and raced after the tom. The weary traveler sat down,catching his breath. ''Take it easy, Lightfoot.'' he thought to himself. ''You can't run like you used to.'' Lightfoot shook out his firey orange pelt, stood up, and went on his way. Doestar stopped the two cats just by the barrier. " Dovetail, may I speak to you for a moment?" he said, signaling for Redstripe to leave. The bracken-colored tom raced off to do something else. "What do you need me for?" she asked, raising her head. " There's a crowfood smell just across the FoxClan border. I want you to see what it is." The spotted tom glanced around carefully before adding,"Alone." Lightfoot froze as the scent of crowfood flooded over him. He let out a snort of disgust and tried to turn away, but the scent of another thing intrigued him. Cat! His paws hit the ground as he ran as fast as his legs could take him. Dovetail closed her eyes,sniffing the air as she ran about. She didn't open them until she ran into something. "Oi! Watch where you're going, fox-brain!" Shouted a tom's voice. Dovetail blinked open her eyes to see a ginger tom with white paws. "Lightfoot?!" She gasped. The tom snorted, disbelief crossing over his face. " How in the name of StarClan do you know me?' Dovetail snorted. This cat was kidding, right? "Gatherings, duh!" The tom shook out his fur. " You have a point there..." He trailed off. "Dovetail." Dovetail growled back. " What are you doing out of DarkClan?" Lightfoot shot Dovetail a look. " I got tired of it and left. Why are ''you ''here?" Dovetail shook her head. " You'll see when I show ya.' She flicked her tail. "Come on. It's close." Dovetail gasped."Great StarClan." "What is it?" asked Lightfoot, ginger-and white fur ruffling. ''Please StarClan, it better not be-'' Dovetail's deeply saddened voice broke into his thoughts. "Great ''StarClan''! It's Blackpaw!" Lightfoot stood forward and glanced at the apprentice's body. His once- black fur was burned profusely, and his teeth were bared in a snarl of defiance, but it was still Blackpaw. "Do we just bury him here or just leave him here?" he asked. " I can't take the smell anymore." Dovetail reared on him, hissing. " Are you always this cold-hearted? Gosh, I'm surprised your Clanmates took care of you so well." Her voice grew calmer and she managed to flatten her fur. "We bury him and tell his parents." "That it?" Lightfoot was getting ticked off by this cat. Dovetail nodded solemnly. "Yes." She lowered her head in sadness and sighed. "I can't believe this would happen to such a young warrior with so much potential. It must have happened during the Midnight Fire." "Bl-Blackpaw's ''dead''?" a ginger and white tabby. " It's not true. Please tell me that it is not true." Dovetail nodded solemnly, sorrow crossing over her face. "It's true, Echoheart." ''But I wish it wasn't, though''. " Is it over with?" grumbled Lightfoot ,annoyed with the fact he was surrounded by she-cats. Well, more to the fact: he actually felt nervous. Being the only tom in a litter of four, and the youngest at that too. Getting teased at by his older sisters,about how small he was, how he was always tripping over his oversized paws, how stupid his name was. Well, he didn't actually care about the name calling anyway. He actually hated his name. "''Lightfoot''." he spat it out as if it were crowfood. "Sorry, what was that?" Dovetail was staring straight at him, momentarily distracted from Echoheart. Lightfoot straightened himself up and cleared his throat. "''Nothing''." Dovetail took one last glance back at Echoheart, before signaling with her tail for Lightfoot to come out of the den. She sighed, lowering her head. I guess I'm going to have to report to Doestar... "What was that?" Lightfoot turned his gaze on her, and Dovetail realized she'd spoken her thoughts. She took a deep breath. "Nothing. I'll go talk to Doestar, you... stay here." "It was ''Blackpaw''?" Doestar gasped with barely disguised shock. "I ''knew'' something was up with the Fire." " It could have been set to cover their tracks!" realized Dovetail. "The cat who killed him ''must have done it''!" Lightfoot growled impatiently, tapping his claws on the ground outside Doestar's den. He was about to give up when Dovetail emerged from the den. " Someone set the Fire to cover their tracks." she said. Then she rubbed her head with a forepaw, sighing. "I feel sick for some reason." "Rest, then." Lightfoot said flatly. "Maybe I'll ask around." "Really?" Dovetail's gaze was hopeful. "''No''." Replied Lightfoot, and Dovetail shot him an icy glare before padding over to the warriors den. " The Midnight Fire." Lightfoot murmured to nobody in particular. "''Interesting''." He stood up, glancing at the sunhigh sky, before walking off to join her. Her gaze was fixed on a starling in the fresh-kill pile, but her mind was fixed on something else. Lightfoot, her mate, had disappeared from SwallowClan about a quarter-moon ago, when she was close to kitting. She suspected that their kits would come today. Her brother, a dark brown tom, padded up to her, now carrying the starling. "Hello, Echospots." she said absentmindedly. Her brother sighed, dropping the starling. "I ''know'' it's hard, Fireshade." He said. "Your mate gone, possibly dead, and your kits are due any day." "I know." Echospots replied somberly. "I want him to come back." Chapter 2